HVAC/ HYDRONICS
44 DECEMBER 2014 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com
B
ack in 2012 I did an article called "Nearsighted?" and
in it spoke on cad-cell location, sighting and trou-
bleshooting. If you read that article and have my
books, or attended one of my seminars, you know
that to me the living and breathing greatest example
of a "burnerman" is the imbecile who paints the inside of
burner air tubes silver or white. This guy not only doesn't have
a clue of what he's doing, but he's also a full blown menace to
our society, real technicians and the future of oilheat—in addi-
tion to just being a flat-out lazy hack. You don't want to be one
of these guys in a legal situation because you wouldn't believe
how many soot and smoke damage cases are caused by this
turning out to be the "most probable cause." Even if somehow
you could try to justify it as soon as they start opening those air
tube boxes in court "you're done, stick a fork in it." Think about
the burners you work on every day—the majority of the tubes are
black or not painted inside at all, right? Well, when that comes
out in court, as they say, "you just lost the case," and trust me it's
not a coincidence that they are mostly all painted black.
I recently got involved in a debate on one of the many
Facebook groups I belong too. This particular one is just for
teachers apprentices and boy-oh-boy do the "greenies" have
some great stories about the "old pros" and of course painting
tubes and "shortcuts" came up. It was nice to see the teachers
and senior guys who inhabit that page really raise hell when a kid
asked "are the paint jobs okay?" Wow, did he get a lesson but he
asked the greatest question of all, "Just how do you fix it then?"
Many guys quoted my books and articles (very humbling) and
then the rookies again asked "how?" Well, here it is one more
time, and from a different point of view with some brand new
pictures.
It's still my opinion that the first and best option is to relocate
the cell and it is also this location that can act as the position
for performing a "sighting test" using "The Lanthier Scale" for
initial burner adjustments. We have talked about this before and
how to use a standard cell for setting up any burner including
a Riello "by eye," and you can read any of my articles at www.
fueloilnews.com.
In Figure 1, provided by Honeywell, we see the cad cell reposi-
tioned onto the interior oil line. In Figure 2 we show it in reality
on a Beckett "M Head" drawer assembly. The bracket, mount
and hardware are supplied with the Honeywell Super Tradeline
Cad Cell Package C554A1463. This is a tried and true solution
and when cad cells were first introduced the way many of us
brought the technology to older burners. The "tube bracket" has
Nearsighted-Revisited
Follow the golden rules of "good industry practice"
By GeoRGe LaNthieR
Figure1
Figure 2
